Normally, when people get diagnosed with nearly any form of cancer, they tend to describe it as “devastating,” “worrying,” even “scary.” Yet during an interview with Revolver leading up to the release of Queens of the Stone Age’s newest album In Times New Roman…, frontman Josh Homme called it “the cherry on top of an interesting time period.”
He wasn’t exactly as flippant about the diagnosis as I’m making it out to sound, but it was just one of multiple personal details that the desert rock favorite revealed in the interview. According to Homme, he underwent a successful surgical procedure for the cancer, which he says he’ll be able to beat.
“I never say it can’t get any worse. I never say that, and I wouldn’t advise it. But I do say it can get better. Cancer is just the cherry on top of an interesting time period, you know? I’m extremely thankful that I’ll get through this, and I’ll look back at this as something that’s fucked up — but will have made me better. I’m cool with that. There’s a lot of stuff I want to do. And there’s a lot of people I want to do that with.”
In addition to the cancer revelation, Homme discussed his oftentimes messy public divorce and custody battle with Brody Dalle, which he described as a big contributor to “the darkest four years of my life.”
“I definitely had a serious case of emotion sickness. There were times I almost didn’t make it. It’s OK for me to ruminate on that. It’s not OK to stay there, feel too sorry for myself. This has been the darkest four years of my life. But that’s OK, too. In the heartaches, my mistakes, these deaths and my own physical things I’m dealing with — even though all that has occurred and smashed my old life to pieces, those pieces I’ve been able to build into a ship that’s about to launch. I will float into my new life from all those pieces.”
Along with the impending release of In Times New Roman… on June 16, Queens of the Stone Age will embark on their “The End is Nero” Tour. You can check out the dates below.
Queens of the Stone Age: The End is Nero Tour:
August 3 – Sterling Heights, MI – Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre at Freedom Hill* [Tickets]
August 4 – Toronto, ON – Budweiser Stage* [Tickets]
August 5 – Pittsburgh, PA – Stage AE Outdoors* [Tickets]
August 7 – Bridgeport, CT – Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater* [Tickets]
August 8 – Philadelphia, PA – TD Pavilion at the Mann* [Tickets]
August 9 – Washington, DC – The Anthem* [Tickets]
August 11 – Portland, ME – Cross Insurance Arena* [Tickets]
August 12 – Queens, NY – Forest Hills Stadium* [Tickets]
August 15 – Raleigh, NC – Red Hat Amphitheater* [Tickets]
August 16 – Asheville, NC – Rabbit Rabbit* [Tickets]
August 18 – Atlanta, GA – Fox Theatre * [Tickets]
August 19 – Nashville, TN – Ascend Amphitheater* [Tickets]
September 16 – Chicago, IL – Riot Fest [Tickets]
September 17 – Minneapolis, MN – The Armory** [Tickets]
September 19 – Omaha, NE – Steelhouse** [Tickets]
September 20 – Kansas City, MO – Starlight Theatre** [Tickets]
September 22 – Indianapolis, IN – TCU Amphitheater at White River State Park** [Tickets]
September 23 – St. Louis, MO – Saint Louis Music Park** [Tickets]
September 24 – Louisville, KY – Louder Than Life [Tickets]
September 26 – Rogers, AR – Walmart AMP** [Tickets]
September 27 – Oklahoma City, OK – The Criterion** [Tickets]
September 29 – Denver, CO – Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre** [Tickets]
September 30 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Great Saltair** [Tickets]
October 2 – Portland, OR – Veterans Memorial Coliseum** [Tickets]
October 3 – Vancouver, BC – Pacific Coliseum** [Tickets]
October 4 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena** [Tickets]
October 6 – San Francisco, CA – Bill Graham Civic Auditorium** [Tickets]
October 8 – Sacramento, CA – Aftershock [Tickets]
*Phantogram and The Armed support
**Viagra Boys and Jehnny Beth support
